CONCRETE CARCASSES OF KIPTOPEKE And a Brief History of Concrete Ship Development In 1949, the Virginia Ferry Commission (VFC) purchased a site eight and a half miles south of the Eastern Shore city of Cape Charles for use as a car-ferry terminus. That location, known as Kiptopeke, was not a natural harbor so the VFC acquired nine, 350- foot long war surplus cargo vessels and strategically sunk them to create a breakwater. While such man-made barriers are not unique, what is unusual is that all of the vessels were constructed of concrete. Part of a World War II effort to circumvent a critical shortage of shipbuilding steel, these self-propelled vessels (plus fifteen additional ones), nicknamed 'McClosky ships' in honor of their designer were mass produced by a Tampa, Florida shipbuilder for the US Maritime Commission. When the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel was completed in 1964, the Kiptopeke Ferry Terminal was abandoned. Nothing remains of the terminal building or the twin ferry slips ramps and machinery that once served to connect the Norfolk area with Virginia s Eastern Shore via a refreshing hour-and-a-half ocean voyage for motorists. But the concrete ships that formed the breakwater remained, largely impervious to the forces of nature. Today, the so-called McClosky ships provide shelter to fishermen and other pleasure seekers at what is now called the Kiptopeke State Park.
EARLY CONCRETE SHIP DEVELOPMENT Ships constructed of steel-reinforced concrete [i.e., Ferro cement] were not necessarily new or even novel in the 1940 s. But they were largely unsuccessful...at least in their original intended usages. Concrete s largest advantage was its cheapness and availability, especially in wartime, plus its resistance to rusting in maritime environments. Disadvantages included the need for embedded steel reinforcement and the resultant relatively thick hull sections that increased construction labor costs while reducing a vessel s cargo-carrying capacity. In addition, vessels constructed of concrete had no real scrap value, which resulted more often than not in their ultimate disposition as breakwaters or wharves. The oldest known Ferro cement watercraft was a small boat built in France in 1848. Canal barges made of concrete began to be used in Europe in the 1860 s. Around 1896, an Italian began building small coastal ships of the non-traditional material. Great Britain built two experimental sailing vessels made of concrete during World War I; perhaps because of the shortage of steel in that island nation. They proved to be unsuccessful as commercial vessels, but one of them remained afloat for decades; used as a clubhouse for a yacht club on the River Medway in England. In 1917, the first self-propelled, sea-going watercraft built of concrete was completed in Norway. Just 84 feet in length, with a displacement of 400 tons, the NAMSENFJORD [shown on the right just before being launched] proved to be the impetus for concrete ship construction in North America. However, Canada, not the United States, was the first country in the western hemisphere to experiment with ships built of concrete. 2
The aptly named Canadian Coast Guard vessel CONCRETIA, completed in 1917, was 132 feet long. Her hull was eighteen inches thick on the sides, and twenty-four inches thick at the keel. She served the Canadian government for several years on the Great Lakes. Later sold and eventually converted to a yacht she was often seen in Caribbean ports as late as the mid-1980 s. She may have sailed to the South Pacific that decade and possibly was lost in a storm. Her ultimate disposition is unknown. About the same time that the CONCRETIA was being built, the San Francisco Shipbuilding Company, located in Oakland, California, began design of America s first ocean-going Ferro cement vessel. A 6,125-ton steamer, the SS FAITH, cost $750,000 and was built on speculation, in hopes of enticing further orders for concrete ships from the US Shipping Board. Her decidedly unusual bow configuration is plainly evident in the vintage photo on the right; taken just before FAITH was launched in March of 1918. The steamship FAITH was only in service for three years. Found uneconomical to operate, she was abandoned in Cuba and became part of a breakwater. Nevertheless, later in 1918, in acknowledgement of the severe shortage of shipbuilding steel, the US Government undertook to construct twenty-four sea-going Ferro cement vessels. When World War I ended in November of that same year, only twelve of the ships were actually under construction. The remaining dozen that had been authorized were never started. Those that were completed were sold to private interests. Over time, several of them became maritime casualties, like the SS ATLANTUS, shown here off the New Jersey coast in 1926 after grounding in a storm. Decades of erosion have reduced her to a crumbling, unrecognizable mass of concrete and steel rebar just offshore. 3
THE SAGA OF THE SS MONTE CARLO Other American concrete vessels from the World War I era were eventually relegated to serving as breakwaters or in other static services; in one instance as a fishing pier in California. One of them, however, had a more lurid career; thanks to the allure of what was advertised as drinks, dice and dolls. A 300-foot long tanker, originally named the SS MCKITTRICK, was launched sideways from a small shipyard on the banks of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1921. How long she served as a tanker is not known. But in early 1936, she showed up off San Diego, California with a well-chosen new name MONTE CARLO. Anchored three miles offshore in International waters, she quickly became a popular ship of sin. As local law enforcement, civic leaders and ministers fumed, water taxis ferried those eager to participate in gambling and prostitution No one claimed ownership, but of course rumors ran rampart that she was controlled by the mob. Mother Nature soon accomplished what local officials could not. During a storm on New Year s Eve, 1936, the MONTE CARLO broke free and went hard aground off the Coronado Beach area of San Diego. The beach was littered with gambling debris. Rumors quickly spread of cases of whiskey and $150,000 of silver dollars trapped in the wreck. Of course, scavengers found neither. The unclaimed vessel was left to slowly disintegrate during future storms. Today, what remains is usually buried in the sand, but occasionally resurfaces to be discovered by people unaware of the vessel s history. 4
THE MCCLOSKY SHIPS Between the world wars, there was little commercial or military interest in concrete ship construction. Other shipbuilding methods were cheaper and less labor intensive, and steel was readily available. But after America entered World War II, the government found itself faced with a critical shortage of steel. Once again, the proponents of concrete ships won shipbuilding contracts. McCloskey & Company utilized a shipyard in Tampa, Florida, to build twenty-four selfpropelled concrete vessels. At the peak of operations, there were 6,000 workers employed at that facility. Innovations in cement mixing and composition made these ships stronger than those built during World War I. All of the so-called McClosky ships were identical cargo vessels, although they bore a strong resemblence to tankers. Each was 336 feet long and had a displacement of 4,690 tons. Starting in July of 1943, they were rapidly mass produced, with a launching held, on average once a month. Each of these vessels was named for a pioneer in concrete technology. Their service records were not all that memorable. The majority served in the South Pacific during the latter stages of World War II. They were mostly employed as floating warehouses at remote island bases, as shown in the image to the right. Two of them, including the first of the production run of twenty four, carried cargos to England in 1944. In June of that year, they were deliberately sunk as part of the breakwaters created to form two artificial harbors off the Normandy beachhead shortly after D-Day. They are still there. Four others were lost in post-war maritime accidents. Of the remaining eighteen, nine were sold to the Virginia Ferry Commission to form the breakwater at Kiptopeke. Two became wharves in Oregon, and the last seven ended up as part of a breakwater project on the west coast of Canada. 5
THE POWELL RIVER BREAKWATER In addition to seven of the McClosky ships, three other vessels constructed from concrete were positioned in British Columbia at the mouth of the Powell River in the late 1940 s to protect logging operations of the Powell River Company s pulp and paper mill. Although stripped down to their bare hulls, they constitute a one-of-a-kind collection, since they form the only breakwater anywhere that consists of vessels still afloat. Securely anchored in place, two of the ten vessels are non-descript concrete barges. The most historic of them is the SS PERALTA, a tanker built as part of America s World War I shipbuilding program. Built in San Francisco, the PERALTA is the largest of all the vessels made of Ferro cement; measuring 420 feet in length and displacing over 6,000 tons. OTHER CONCRETE WATERBORNE CRAFT OF WW II During World War II, the US Government contracted with two California firms to produce a total of sixty-nine non-self-propelled concrete barges. An additional eleven were built at mud bank shipyards in Texas and Georgia. Several additional units were authorized, but cancelled before construction could commence. These waterborne craft mostly served in the Pacific during the war. Two of them, as described above, are still gainfully employed as part of the Powell River breakwater, but little is known of the ultimate disposition of the majority of the others. What is known is that several of these barges were sold or given outright to Asian countries which had supported America s wartime efforts. Much better known to World War II historians are the massive concrete creations developed as part of the Allies audicious plan to not only land troops on the exposed beaches of Normandy, but to also create artifical harbors there to support and augment the invading forces. The story of what was a massive civil engineering construction effort was successfully kept secret in spite of the immense size of multiple floating units and supporting apparatus that were deliberately given randomly selected code names. 6
MULBERRY HARBOUR What is now called the Mulberry Harbour was actually two artificial harbors, the elements of which were built in multiple Great Britain locations, towed across the English Channel often under enemy fire and positioned off the French coast. Each of the harbors was designed to support the movement ashore of 7,000 tons of material a day. The artificial harbor created off Omaha Beach, called Mulberry A was constructed by American forces; the other one, Mulberry B, by the British. When this concept was first proposed, it had more doubters than supporters. Then Wilson Churchill had his say: Piers for the use on beaches: They must float up and down with the tide. The anchor problem must be mastered. Let me have the best solution worked out. Don t argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves. British and American engineers responded, and developed an intricate jigsaw-puzzle-like combination of concrete cassions, floating piers and pontoon-supported bridges suitable for moving huge amounts of men and material to and across the beaches of Normandy. The magnitude of this effort can perhaps best be appreciated by reviewing the specifications for a single concrete cassion, code-named Phoenix. A total of 146 of these structures were manufactured. Each one measured roughly 180 feet long, 45 feet wide and stood 54 feet high. Each Phoenix required 144,000 tons of concrete. When completed, they were deliberately sunk in shallow Great Britain inland waterways to prevent them being damaged or even capsized by German air attacks. 7
As D-Day approached, the Phoenix cassions were refloated. Three days after the initial landings at Normandy, tugs that had slowly towed the huge floating boxes from Great Britain positioned them on either side of seventy ships that had been deliberately sunk in two groups to form breakwaters in the British Channel. For protection during and after the tow, the Phoenixes were fitted with anti-aircraft guns. A huge storm on June 19, 1944, destroyed the American-built Mulberry Harbour A, scattering and sinking several cassions. Better anchored, the cassions at Mulberry B remained in place. Over the next several months, this sole remaining artificial dock area, which had been expected to last only three months, was utilized to land over 2.5 million soldiers, 500,000 military vehicles and four million tons of supplies. As French ports were captured and repaired, the harbor known as Mulberry B was eventually abandoned. Its floating piers and pontoon bridges were removed, but the cassions were mostly left in place. Today, over 68 years since they were positioned off the Normandy beachheads, most of the Phoenix structures have become worn down by decades of wind and wave action. However, a few still remain amazingly intact, looking much as they did in 1944. Nearby, the memorials and cemeteries of Normany are meticuliously maintained. Just offshore, the long-abandoned Phoenix cassions serve as an unintentioned tribute to the craftsmen who fashioned these big box-like structures under the most trying of conditions during World War II. 8
POSTSCRIPT The end of World War II marked the termination of large-scale concrete ship construction. Today, only some smaller recreational watercraft are built of Ferro cement. When people not well-versed in civil engineering or maritime history see the Kiptopeake breakwater, they often are amazed to learn of the vessels material of construction and their age. That s not surprising, for the history of concrete ocean-going vessels is now almost forgotten except by those of us who dote on such maritime oddities. The creators of the nine so-called McClusky ships that protected the once-busy Kiptopeke ferry terminal likely never envisioned that their products would endure as long as they have. Or be adaptable for benefical uses unanticipated during their construction. Slowly deteriorating, these curious concrete creations will likely be there for many more decades before Mother Nature causes them to disappear completely. Such are the sometimes unexpected results of man s usually and relatively puny engineering efforts, when exposed over time to the destructive forces of nature. Bill Lee July 2014 9